On the track “Flossin”, Substance Abuse and MC Eiht address the valorization of the affluent lifestyle that dominates today’s hip hop. The track “Rear View” featuring KRS-One, tackles the futility of trying to embrace a time period that is gone and never will be again, while still affirming some of the timeless values that people cherished during that era.“When we came up with the title we had a few things in mind,” explains Eso, who grew up in the southland with Subz. “First, we’re talking about the era that we came up in, the early 90’s graffiti scene.

It was a time when tagging crews in Los Angeles had members hailing from different socio-economic and ethnic backgrounds, where you’d have kids from West LA in the same crews as kids from South Central and there was a certain sense of unity in that. “The umbrella provided by graffiti and hip hop,” adds Eso, “represented something positive.”

“Background Music also refers to the state of hip hop today, explains Eso “where the music seems deracinated of the personality and edge that it once had,” explains Eso. It also refers to how our music is construed by the masses, people who generally seem to favor the popular over the obscure. Real hip-hop has been forced to play the “background” to club and dance music that seems devoid of any message or staying power.